Life gets ya down!

Life can throw so many curve balls at you all at once.  If only I had enough arms to catch all of them.  But no, I usually drop them all and fall apart for a bit, and that's OK.  Things happen, kids get sick, husbands get sick, cats destroy the house, and we get sick.  The point that life seems to make every time is to pick up the pieces, dust it all off, put it back where it goes and keep moving!  Keep working even when we don't want to and push forwards...because that it supposed to be when the great things happen!

Something that I have learned in the past 2 weeks...I learned how to get great video on my DSLR cameras.  I bought an external mic and used it.  I am doing a video for a wonderful woman and having fun doing it!  

It's been a long time since I have done a video or had fun at it.  The whole process became tainted for me a while back and I didn't want to do it anymore... There was a nasty divorce and my ex husband was my partner. Things can just become tainted sometimes.  It's life.

But, here I am back at it.  It feels good.  Maybe even a little liberating.  Life is full of circles, it's funny that way!

 

It's the Little Things...Poems and Stories for Children of all Ages: Lilly the Lama was a silly dilly Lama that like...

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It's the Little Things...Poems and Stories for Children of all Ages:


Lilly the Lama was a silly dilly Lama that like...: Lilly the Lama was a silly dilly Lama that liked to go out and play She’d leap in the air with out such a care and would dance if...

Day 7 Still going!

Yesterday what I learned and watched and read was a bunch of info.  I have been thinking of starting a blog for the local area and about wedding vendors and it was confirmed that I am on the right track.  I read from another pro that the best thing that you can do to get your business running and grab more customers is to build relationships with other business owners in town.  This is what I am finally all about this year! 

I also worked on my website again last night, which I’ve been doing every night for about 2 weeks now and I think that it was worth it!  I Got a call today for a June wedding!  Exciting!  This momentum will keep up!  I have decided that I have to set standards for my self and my products because no one else will…and that’s not fair to myself or my customers!

Another thing that I did to boost myself  (technically) was watch a video on shooting video for DSLRs. J I am going to be filming something on the 11^th of Feb and I want to make sure I’m prepped…I also want to start shooting video for a once a mo. Video blog for my blog as a featured item. 

I am ordering a mic and doing everything that I can to better myself in most ways…we all need work somewhere.

Watching that video made me miss my days as a videographer a bit…maybe I will get back into that too.

But for now, I am excited that I am still writing everyday and keeping it up.  

Ok, This is day 6…I had to skip a day as life got in the way as it always seems to.  The difference is this time I am determined to keep my momentum.  I want purpose in my life and want to better myself.   Often times we let family, events, misfortunes derail our lives.  I was very guilty of this for the longest time.  I think that now, with age, unfortunately. I am able to bounce back a bit more quickly and that helps.  I’ve learned that it is ok to set boundaries and know my own limits.  For my health and for my sanity. 

I have still been working with some raw shooting and am trying to get through an edit of my last jaunt from the other day.  I will post some pictures of this in the morning!

For now, I am realizing my limits and taking advice from my body…it’s time for bed!

Day 4: Find your Compass!

Ok, so the last few day I have shot everything, learned some new things and been watching tutorials from Lynda.com about photography and how to grow your business and keep learning.  The best bit of advice that I have heard so far is to “find your compass”…What, I had never had anything put this was before.  It spoke so loudly to me that I have heard it ringing in my ears ever since…and since then I have decided what I am doing. It is so funny that it can all change in one night, one tiny thought.  Amazing.  This photographer when on to explain how he thinks photographers should have more than one avenue for making money and he gave me some great ideas that I belive are going to help give me great focus.

1. Find My Compass:  What type of photography do I was to be in?
    
2. Give my self a badge to be curious:  Create a Wedding Blog about weddings!  This gives me a reason to get out there and talk to other vendors and people about the blog and my own business
3. Keep an archive of photographs of my Area, that may be sold in the future.

So I bought my new domain today, I have an idea for a website and I have my first interview next week…A new jeweler in town who does custom jewelry and is a very sweet guy!

I am so excited about this.

Learning is not always technical…We can learn so much from each other! 

Things to Grow on! ;-)

Weddings and why I love them :)

What is it that most of us love about a wedding?

I think it is the romantic idea that on this one day a couple will start their lives together. Like it really is the first day of the rest of their lives.

We tend to forget the fact that most couples these days have already moved in together or have kids...that they have fought and made up... That they know how each other smell in the morning...and you know what? They forget it too!

A Wedding day seems to be this magical day of freshness; it's kinda like a big slice of lemon meringue pie. Rich and creamy with fun whipped fluff on top. The only thing you really have to worry about is if the cake has been delivered and the preacher in there on time ;) Well maybe there's a little more to it than that.

As a photographer I love to think of weddings in a romantic way. To view the couple (my subjects) as these angels without a care in the world. To look around me at this perfectly laid out world that has been all staged out for this special day. The perfectly set table tops, party favors unique to this wedding, all of the colors hand picked by the bride. I know that life is so not like this on a daily basis, but I pretend as long as I can...that is until someone rushes in and say's "I can't find aunt betty" or "The flower girl just fell in the pond". We make due with what we have, just like with everything in life.

But for this one day we like to think there is perfection.

 Sweet moments captured makes highering a professional worth it!

 Making Art out of Life is still my motto!

I am telling you guys it is all about these moments...Rhea was just checking out her new ring and this girls where looking on admiering as well.  With the Click of my camera I captured this moment forever.  I Love it when this happens :) 

RAW and Lightroom! YAY day 3 :)

Day 3:  I’ve made it 3 days!  Yay!

So, last night I started playing with RAW again.  I say again because it’s been quite a while since I have wanted to mess with RAW.  A few years ago it was such a pain…at least from what I knew.  I had to have a special program to open them and it did not seem to make that much of a difference when I was editing.  Well, apparently within our digital age all of that has changed.

Lightroom has made it that much more amazing to shoot in RAW and I am very excited to say the least about shooting my next wedding!  I’ve decided that I am going to keep shooting at least one image a day and edit it and hopefully learn a new technique every day. 

Last night I shot a small scene with each of my children and they are not perfect but I am excited none the less.  They are fun for me at least!    

The Great thing about RAW vs JPEG in Lightroom is the ability to change more.  You get even more options when editing RAW vs JPEG.  One example is the White balance option is even better and the dropper seems to work even better then when in jpeg. 

I was going everything by hand and then putting in into  Photoshop to get an even better edit.  Learning the inside outs are going to cut down on my editing time even more.

Even though I am not a novice and I do have amazing clients, I still am looking forward to learning more and growing my business this year.  I want to give my clients a Photographer and a Pro that knows her stuff.  Not one who became busy and comfortable and did not keep up on her craft. (*This is me talking to my self again, so no judgments please…I am sure that I’m not the only mom out there who has ever had this problem.)

I used Lightroom to do a main edit and then I popped them into Photoshop to do some extra editing.  I can’t wait to learn even more about Lightroom through my journey this year.  And, I cannot wait to see the difference in my photos in a few months.

On a side note…Another thing that I have been working on is a 5 part mini program about creating themed sessions and pricing them…I am really interested in trying to sell some mini sessions this year and see if I can learn to market them correctly and make a profit. 

Here’s to a great 2016!  I got this!

Below are the two pictures from last night’s shenanigans

Befor











                                                                                                              After

                                                                                                                                                                                   BeforeAfter

I hope you can see the difference!

-Trish

It's official, I learned something new! - I Got This!

It’s officially day one! 

Today I woke up and got on my FB.  I was recently given the advice to limit my self to one hour a day for my social media posts.  It all made sense, it can take up so much of ones day!  So, That will become a bit of advice for you…that is, if anyone is listening.  Limit your tasks to start making room for important things…like learning.

I went on to watch a one hour Tutorial from Cole’s Classroom.  It was about 7 Lightroom shortcuts.  I am very excited to say that I did learn some things!  I’ve been using Lightroom for years now and I now know some new steps that are going to make it that much easier.  Like something as simple as the heal tool…Of course I have used this many times, but! I did not know that you could simply click and drag and vuala! you could fix an entire area rather than just one spot.  Amazing!

Next was the simplicity of the white balance dropper tool...That is easy to play with and so much more simple than playing with the sliders.

Then came pasting presets or a look you just created to a batch of similarly lit photos, hello, this was so great, I wanted to slap myself for not knowing it sooner!

-For this step, you simply edit a picture then hold down shift and click to the end of your like photos.  Then right click on that batch, go to development setting and click on paste!

It will apply your amazing look to all of the photos that you’ve just selected you can quickly save them all at once as well my keeping them selected when you export.

Now, if you new this info already, great for you!  I did not so I am giving myself a pat on the back today…I learned something new...Which is the point of me doing this!

Good Day!

I learned something new today that will help my editing become faster and more efficient.

If you would like to take a look at my Photography skills please visit my website for Aris Affairs Photography.  I do wedding photography, Family Portraits, and More!

These are two of my pics from today:

Doing it (Photography) everyday! A reminder to myself.

It’s been a while…Since I’ve blogged and since I’ve been serious about my craft.  Which leaves me with my next thought…As a photographer, how important is it to keep shooting? 

A bit of back story about the last 3.5 years.  Life got busy, I was married, I had a baby, went back to school, I became sick and I had to step away from school.  And all in 3.5 years!  It seems that I should have just had a little focus and I would be that much further in my career as a photographer.  What if I had just been married and had a baby while still working on just my photography?  I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’ve still shot weddings and couples and babies…my baby, and kids and families.  But I muddied up the water with all of the other things in life that your told that you need to accomplish. 

What if I had just listened to my self and not other people.  Well, this year, 2016, that is what I intend to do. Listen to the person who knows me best, me!

Back to my question, is shooting important? As a photographer it is VERY important to keep shoot, no matter the subject.  Over the last 8 years, I know that I have become a world apart from where I began.  I started this journey as a girl who wanted to pull away from the life she had 10 years a

go as a videographer with her ex-husband and I move into my own creative life as a photographer and a singleton.  When I first began, I am not ashamed to say that I would shoot with the auto settings on my camera.  I am now proud to say that now I never shoot in auto, only manual mode.  I also know that through the last 3 years with having ups and down in terms of shooting, that you can become rusty with anything!  So again, keep shooting. 

Be that photographer who gets up early once a week to go and shoot the sunrise or the fog that has rolled in to your valley in the morning.  Be that photographer who is the first person in the freshly fallen snow.  That is my desire for 2016, to be that first photographer more often than not. 

I want to get into the habit of shooting once a day, at least one picture a day…with me its never just one.  I want to learn even more about my off camera lighting and get more clients than ever!  I want to get better about blogging and getting my work out there…even if I think its silly and no one will care…I just want to do it.  Why?  Not for popularity or becoming known or to get anything from anyone.  I just want to make myself better for myself and for my future clients.  I want to remind my self that it is ok to fail because in failing we learn and we get up and we do it better.  The only way that I will truly fail and do myself an injustice is if I fail and do not get up and dust myself off. 

So, this is just for me (and anyone else who might need to hear it), “Shoot something every day! Get better everyday!  You can do it”

-T

BTW- if you are among the 2-3 people who may view this first blog back and you want to have a look at my website for Aris Affairs Photography please do!  I am based in Prescott, Az, but I do work all over our lovely Arizona including Phoenix, Cave Creek, Sedona, and Flagstaff.  I also love being the photographer that gets to check out new places!